Charles, Duke of Durazzo

Charles of Durazzo (Italian: Carlo di Durazzo 1323 – 23 January 1348) was a Neapolitan nobleman, the eldest son of John, Duke of Durazzo and Agnes de Périgord.

He succeeded his father as Duke of Durazzo and Count of Gravina in 1336.

On 21 April 1343, he married Maria of Calabria, Countess of Alba, in Naples. She was the younger daughter of Charles, Duke of Calabria and sister of Joan I of Naples, and had been intended as a bride for Louis I of Hungary or John II of France, but was abducted by Charles and his mother to make a marriage that would place Charles closer to the throne of Naples.

Keeping carefully aloof from the conspiracy that murdered Joan's husband Andrew, Duke of Calabria, he led a faction opposing Joan and Louis of Taranto. He contacted the Hungarian court, seeking their support. He hoped to turn the invasion of Louis of Hungary and the flight of Joan to his own ends: but he was seized and beheaded by the Hungarians at Aversa.

Alexandre Dumas, père, in his romance Joan of Naples, makes Charles a master of intrigue and treachery who engineers the death of Andrew and then of his murderers, only to meet his death at the hands of the King of Hungary.

Charles and Maria had five children:

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